Imagine a World Without Easter - Bible Study Guide
“Imagine a World Without Easter” – 3 Studies
Three studies for groups, individuals, or 1:1, examining and reflecting on the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
1. Imagine a World Without Hope :: 1 Peter 1:3 – 7
2. Imagine a World Where Death Wins :: 1 Corinthians 15:12 – 26
3. Imagine a World Without Purpose :: 2 Corinthians 5:10 – 20
See the PDF below, or view sample content from Study 2 in this Bible study guide further down the page:
1 Corinthians 15:12 – 26. Imagine a World Where Death Wins
- What is the most memorable funeral of which you have been a part?
What makes it stand out in your mind? - Shakespeare’s Hamlet observes “This fell sergeant, death, is strict in his arrest.” Do you feel that it’s only the unavoidability of death that makes it such a hated enemy?
- Why do you think that we hope so strongly that death doesn’t win?
Read 1 Corinthians 15:12 – 26
- What is the problem in the Corinthian church that Paul is seeking to address?
- In what ways is death an “enemy” (v 26)?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how serious is the claim, circulating among the Corinthian Christians, that Christians will not be raised from the dead,“how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (v 12)?
- Make a list of the consequences Paul identifies if it were true that Christ had not been raised from the dead.
- How does Paul go about establishing the fact and certainty of our future resurrection?
- Paul uses three images to make his argument for the certainty of our future resurrection. What do we learn about Christ’s resurrection and ours through the language of:
– Firstfruits (v 20 & 23)
– Adam (v 22)
– The Kingdom of God (24 – 26)
- In the light of 1 Corinthians, how do you respond to a friend who says, “It doesn’t really matter whether or not Jesus rose from the dead?”
- If Christ has not been raised, death wins. Since “Christ has indeed been raised from the dead” (v 20), what do we learn about death?
- What are some of the many things of which we can be confident because of Jesus’ resurrection?
- How does the defeat of death shape the way we mourn for people we love who have died?
Pray
Give thanks for Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, which guarantees our future resurrection.
Give thanks to God that death doesn’t win.
Pray for those who mourn. And ask God to comfort them with the hope of the resurrection.
